Can God be bound? Can He be shackled? On the face of it, it seems the answer to these questions is obvious. How can God, who created the universe and sustains it, be tied up, or confined? Yet the truth is that He can be tied up. The important thing to know is what rope to use, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse.
There is a verse that says the Lord can be tied up using a pole that has not been pegged to the ground, by making this pole stay upright without ever touching it, and by using a frayed rope to tie Him to this pole!
In other words, the verse reiterates the impossibility of ever tying up the Lord. He is the One who cannot be controlled or ordered about or restricted. And yet, are there not instances of His having been restricted and even ordered about?
Lord Krishna was scolded by his mother Yasoda. He was instructed by her to keep off stealing butter.
He was accused by Gopikas of being a thief. How could they do this, and get away with it too? They could do it because of the deep love that they had for Krishna. He was captive to their love. Yasoda even tied Him up to a pounding stone, but He allowed Himself to be tied. And that is the important thing to be noted. She could never have tied Him up, had Lord Krishna decided not to allow Himself to be tied up.
He voluntarily decided that He would allow her to tie Him up, and so she was able to accomplish the impossible task of tying up the Supreme One. Yasoda did not even use a strong rope. She is said to have used a useless rope.
The message for us here is that our bhakti can tie Him up, provided our bhakti is like the useless rope.
Our bhakti should be such that it seeks nothing from the Lord. It must not be bhakti which is professed in order to obtain something from the Lord.
Uddhava wished that he were born in Gokula as, at least, a blade of grass.
In Gokula, Lord Krishna bathed the cows, danced with Gopikas and showed His affection on His devotees.
The Lord can be bound, but only by the love of His devotees.
